Actor Ben Cross, who was best known for playing athlete Harold Abrahams in the film Chariots of Fire, has died at the age of 72.
Ben Cross played athlete Harold Abrahams in the film Chariots of Fire. Photo: AFP / Photos12.com / Collection Cinéma
His representatives said he had died suddenly following a short illness.
Writing on his Facebook page, his daughter Lauren said she was utterly heartbroken that her darling father had died.
She said her father had been sick for a while but there had been a rapid decline over the past week.
He was born Harry Bernard Cross in London to a working-class Catholic family.
After graduating from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts (Rada), he moved from the stage to screen and took a minor role in the 1977 war film A Bridge Too Far, which starred Sir Sean Connery and Sir Michael Caine.
He became a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company in the same year, before gaining wider acclaim as Billy Flynn - the lawyer representing murderer Roxie Hart - in a 1978 version of Chicago.
It was a performance that was widely believed to have earned him his role in 1981's Chariots Of Fire, which went on to win four Oscars including best picture.
Cross played Harold Abrahams in the film, which was based on the true story of two British men racing for Olympic gold in 1924.
He later appeared as Malagant in the 1995 film First Knight and Sarek in the 2009 Star Trek reboot.
Cross also appeared as Rudolf Hess in the 2006 BBC production Nuremberg: Nazis on Trial.
Cross had two children, Lauren and Theo.
- BBC
